Dunninger was a "mentalist," essentially a magician whose performances specialize in hypnosis, clairvoyance, telepathy, and other mind control stunts that confound their audiences. It might be hard to believe, but this kind of entertainment could be done on the radio and be quite entertaining. Dunninger had a long career and befriended magicians such as Houdini and Blackstone, and has an interesting tie to radio character The Shadow. Walter B. Gibson, novelist and creator of The Shadow was a magic expert, and was the ghost writer for Houdini and others, and is believed wrote books for Dunninger. It is also claimed that Gibson used Dunninger for part of the inspiration behind The Shadow and his ability to "cloud men's minds so they cannot see him." In 1944 Dunninger had a radio program, and there are many available. There is also a 1940 program and an interview from a Virginia radio station. If the idea of a "mentalist" is not familiar, there is a modern day example. For those who watched television in the 1960s and 1970s, there was another "mentalist" popular at that time who had a similar performance, "The Amazing Kreskin." As of this writing, Kreskin is about 80 years old and still performing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Dunninger

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